Have you ever gotten to a test and felt confident, but as soon as you looked at the first question you realized you didn’t remember anything you studied last night? Or maybe you like to think about the future and worry that one day you won’t remember any of the fun things you are doing right now. We all forget things, but these 5 tips can benefit you now and help boost your memory for the future.
Exercise
Exercise is a key component to all around health and can help solve a variety of illnesses. New studies conducted by the University of British Columbia, found that exercise has also been shown to help improve brain function. Aerobic exercise has been shown to reduce inflammation and promote growth factors, which help keep your current brain matter healthy and create more. It’s important to note that these benefits only come from aerobic exercise encouraged these changes.
Learn Another Language
Being bilingual has a range of benefits including higher pay and strengthening the brain. For people at risk for Alzheimers, it can help delay the onset by up to four years. Knowing a second language now can also help improve the executive functioning of your brain, which means you will have a better working memory and more self-control.
Change Your Diet
Studies have shown that following the Mediterranean Diet can help keep you brain functioning at a consistent level. When we get stressed our bodies create molecules that can damage brain cells, and the antioxidants found in olive oil and nuts help counteract this process and protect the cells.
Get A Good Night Sleep
While getting a good night’s sleep is necessary for most body functions it is also when memories are consolidated. During REM sleep our declarative memory, which the fact-based knowledge we acquire throughout the day, and procedural memory, how to do things, are formed. Declarative memory is also formed during slow wave sleep which is when the brain repairs itself.
Mix It Up
Have you ever heard that you should do one new thing every day? In addition to adding some excitement to your life, it can be helpful in remembering. When you do something new, like take a new route home, your brain begins the process of creating a new memory because it assumes that a new task is important. This process will continue for a while, the benefits you reap from doing this new task will also be applied to whatever activities you do after the new task.